Brett Cook-Dizney at P.P.O.W - New York

Despite the ever-diminishing number of artists making art in the spirit of political activism, 30-something Brett Cook-Dizney remains committed to creating work "about giving marginalized people a voice," as he's quoted in the press release for his latest exhibition. This African-American artist has done site-specific, not-for-profit and sometimes "non-permissionar' projects in the ghettos of South Central L.A. and Harlem, asking his subjects (the inhabitants of these neighborhoods) to take a literal hand in representing themselves publicly. For his latest show, "REVOLUTION," Cook-Dizney presented one of paintings and another of drawings, all portraying renowned individuals who have done radical work in support of humanity.

The expertly rendered paintings, done with spray paint and loosely applied acrylic on mirrors, have a certain maudlin, we-are-the-world quality, thanks to their rainbow-hued palette. This--along with the guileless bluntness of having viewers literally see their own reflections through the likenesses of personages such as James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Thich Nhat Hanh, Henry David Thoreau and Cesar Chavez (among others)--adds a needed edge of self-deprecation to what might be taken by some as a corny artistic endeavor: celebrating those who do good and suggesting that others follow in their footsteps.

Beneath the paintings, on mirror-covered shelves, the artist presented books about and by the individuals to whom the portraits pay homage. He also provided printed handouts that included biographies of the portrayed individuals, as well as instructions about how to obtain further information about them.

Like the paintings, Cook-Dizney's drawings depict individuals who have worked toward creating an enlightened, free society. More stylish and elegant than the paintings, the sketchy, highly stylized works done with gold paint pen on black paper also include text. Subjects ranging from writers Alex Halley and Audre Lorde to musicians Mos Def, Fela Kuti and Bob Marley appear with words of their own utterance. This critic got a tear in her eye, catching the admirable drift of the various people Cook-Dizney has clearly spent a lot of time and energy investigating.

The words "Whether you have a Ph.D. or no D/we're in this bag together" accompany a sketch of one Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil-rights advocate who was also the granddaughter of a slave; poet/playwright/political activist Amiri Baraka lends the wisdom, "Both Form and Content are Weapons of Self Consciousness and Revolution"; hip-hop group De La Soul offers up "People are you ready? Well, what you wanna be? Do you wanna lose love for hate?"; Malcolm X notes, "You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom." Possibly containing more content (even if appropriated) than the rest of Chelsea combined, Cook-Dizney's visually enchanting work begs the question: Does one find beauty in a thing, or in the spirit in which it's made?

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